Stanford took advantage of the home course advantage to win the NCAA Stanford Regional by 12 strokes over Arizona State and North Carolina in the rain on the Stanford Golf Course http://www.stanfordgolfcourse.com in Palo Alto, where the Cardinal’s Isaiah Salinda claimed the individual title.
The top five teams in each regional advanced to the NCAA Championships on May 24-29 at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
Stanford won a fourth straight tournament for the first time since 2014 by posting a score of 274-271-272—817, 23-under par, while Arizona State finished at 283-272-274—829 to tie for second with North Carolina, which wound up at 280-275-274—829.
Georgia Southern was fourth at 278-278-278—834, followed by LSU at 287-273-282—842.
“We’re happy that we picked up our fourth win a row and we just want to keep this momentum going,” said Stanford Coach Conrad Ray, whose team was coming off victories in the The Goodwin, the Western Intercollegiate and the Pacific 12 Championships. “Now anything is possible when you get a ticket to the big show.
“ … You do this long enough and you see crazy stuff happen. North Carolina got off to a hot start (in the final round). But our guys hung in there and they kept fighting. All year we’ve played well on the back nine.”
Salinda, a senior from South San Francisco playing on his home course for the last time, claimed his second college title by breaking out of a tie for the lead with birdies on the 14th hole, where he sank an eight-foot putt, and the 15th, where he tapped in after missing a 12-footer for eagle.
Salinda carded a score of 66-67-67—200, 10-under, while his Stanford teammate David Snyder shot 67-68-68—203 to tie for second with Chun An Yu of Arizona State, who totaled 71-65-67—203, Ryan Burnett of North Carolina, who finished at 73-67-63—203, and Cameron Sisk of Arizona State, who wound up at 69-69-65—203.
“Perfect way to end it,” said Salinda, who also won at the Western Intercollegiate last month. “It was kind of tough day with the conditions and I knew it wouldn’t be easy.
“To finish strong like that feels really good. I didn’t do any one thing particularly great. Everything was really solid. I drove it well and when I was out of position, I was able to save pars and keep the momentum going.”
Brandon Wu of Stanford posted a score of 68-67-69—204 to tie for sixth with Steven Fisk of Georgia Southern, who shot 71-65-68—204, and Kyler Dunkle of Utah, who finished at 69-67-68—204.
Jake Maples of Georgia Southern was ninth at 67-71-68—206, while Albin Bergstrom of South Florida totaled 67-71-69–207 to tie for 10th with Luis Gagne of LSU, who came in at 71-66-70—207.
Rounding out the scoring for Stanford were Henry Shimp, who shot 73-75-68—216 and wound up in a tie for 43rd that included Cardinal teammate Daulet Tuleubayev, who finished at 73-69-74—216.
Pepperdine and USC advanced from the Austin Regional at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, Texas, where the Waves finished fourth at 278-290-290—858, followed by the Trojans in fifth at 278-290-290—860.
Host Texas finished first at 278-274-275—827, 25-under, while San Jose State was ninth at 291-303-294—888 and St. Mary’s of Moraga wound up 11th at 307-290-294—891.
Joe Highsmith led Pepperdine in third at 68-70-69—207, while Sam Kim of USC was fourth at 69-71-69—209.
California advanced by finishing fourth in the Myrtle Beach Regional at TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, Fla., with a score of 288-286-276—850. Illinois finished first at 279-288-272—839, 25-under, while Cal State Fullerton was 12th at 292-298-297—887.
K.K. Limbhasut led Cal in ninth place at 69-71-70—210.
UCLA failed to advance out of the Pullman Regional at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash., finishing eighth at 275-276-278—829, as Texas A&M finished first at 269-268-270—807, 33-under.
Devon Bling led the Bruins in a tie for 17th at 70-68-66—204.
Zach Smith of UC Santa Barbara, playing as an individual, advanced to the NCAAs by finishing second at 65-67-65—197, but Tim Widing of San Francisco failed to move on even though he tied for third as an individual at 67-65-66—198.
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